ICC Note:

A two-year old girl has died and other children are in serious condition after an attack on a Christian church over the weekend. The attacker, who wore a shirt emblazoned with the words, “Jihad Way of Life” was caught and arrested along with five others who are believed to be involved in planning the attack. The attacker drove from a mosque to the church on a motorbike and threw Molotov bombs into the parking lot where children were playing. This is not the first time the attacker has been involved in radical Islamist attacks. He was sentenced to three years and six months in prison in 2012 for his involvement in planning attacks on a technology center and a church. He was released early, however, for the Muslim holiday of “Eid Mubarak” in which some prisoners’ sentences are reduced.

11/14/2016 Indonesia (Asia News) – The first victim of the attack yesterday at the church Samarinda (East Kalimantan) is a two-year-old girl, who did not survive her wounds and the burns. Olivia Intan Marbun was playing with other children in front of the church, waiting for her parents, when an improvised explosive device exploded overwhelming her and other children. Triniti Hutahayan (4 years), Anita (4) and Alfaro Sinaga (5) are in serious condition.

All of those wounded in the attack belong to the Batak ethnic group, members of the Protestant Batak Church. Police arrested the alleged assailant, Jo Bin Muhammad Aceng Kurnia known as Johanda, an ex-convict for terrorist crimes, suspected of having links with the Islamic state.

Johanda was arrested in May 2011 for plotting attacks on the science and technology center in Puspitek Serpong (South Tangerang, southwest of Jakarta) and the Gading Serpong church. Sentenced to three years and six months imprisonment, the terrorist was released on bail in 2014, during the Islamic holiday of “Eid Mubarak.” It is tradition that during this period some prisoners can get their sentences reduced, as is the case with Christians during Christmas. Much of civil society is now asking if this measure is not too permissive towards terrorists.

…